The natural world, life, and dogs.
It's been a minute since I last posted (November 25, 2022). Happy New Year! Some of you have been kind enough to check in, see how I am and how my book writing is going. Thank you. The boys and I are doing well. Finn turned 15, Conall reached eight, and I ignored my 66th… Continue reading Book Progress
My house was listed for sale on Tuesday morning. By Friday afternoon I had accepted an offer. It's enough to make one's head spin. In a good way. The sale is pending. There are a couple of hurdles to be jumped before closing, typical to most home sales (inspection and appraisal). I don't anticipate any… Continue reading Stress and Money
More foolishness fills our days following the previous post about spring, or more precisely, the "fool's spring" that tempts people living in the mountains into believing that winter is over. Fool's spring is a tease. But a delightful tease. If the past few days are representative of "fool's spring" in the mountains of Idaho, then… Continue reading A Fool in Love (with Nature)
I’ve been feeling wordless lately. Shocker, right? It happens. No worthwhile topic I’m itching to write about. No current stream-of-consciousness idea presenting itself to me as worthy of words on the page/screen. Instead, I turn to my dogs and let them console and entertain me. They’re good at that. Conall’s Food Bank for Ravens has… Continue reading Wolf Moon
Starting with his earliest forays into the forest near home as a puppy, Conall has had the ability to follow his nose to animal bones left on the ground. Some bones appear in the normal course of life, after animals die from natural causes or as a predator's meal. Other bones appear after hunters kill… Continue reading Who Stole My Treasure?
Over the past several years, in late summer I’ve noticed a tall, leggy plant with big leaves and a brown top. Some are taller than me (I’m 5’4”). Based on the round, conical shape of that brown part, I always figured it was some sort of daisy-type flower that I’d somehow missed earlier and was… Continue reading Rudbeckia
I didn't have a plan for this morning. Usually I go to bed with an idea of whether the dogs and I will go for a run the next morning, and where. We run three or four days each week, and go for a walk the other mornings. Walks require much less planning. Rarely, if… Continue reading Thinking of John Muir
The following is sampling of the sorts of thoughts that flit through my mind while I’m out running in the forest with my dogs. Since they can’t talk to me (except through their body language), for much of the time we’re out there I’m carrying on an internal dialog with myself. While the specific threads… Continue reading Random Thoughts During a Winter Run in the Forest
Yesterday I enjoyed one of those times in nature that leave me awestruck, enthralled, fully engaged, and grateful. Everything was perfect: the weather, the snow, and the company (my dogs). We started early in the morning, running up, up, up the mountain on freshly-groomed trail, the rising sun breaking over and through the tops of… Continue reading Into the Woods in Winter
If you spend time in the outdoors, eventually something will go wrong. It's a law of nature. But if you survive, those epic failures become the best stories! We’ve all read about amazing accomplishments in the wild, but now it’s time to tell us about the not-so-great times and what you learned from them. Share… Continue reading Epic Trail Fail #2: Peterson Ridge Rumble
Wild Sensibility 